Canada Tour (2018) Rpt No.5

ELVIS WAS KING BUT BING COULD SING - & CRUISING THE COLUMBIA RIVER

We now move to the final part of our 2018 trip, a

river cruise in a paddle steamer – just like we did last

year down the Mississippi. At the Seattle airport we

once again use the now familiar self-check-in, print

our boarding passes and baggage labels (with only

one error) and then hand in our bags. We are flying

to Spokane and the lady at the counter remarks,

“You are from New Zealand and you are going to

Spokane?” This makes us wonder just what we are

letting ourselves in for. Security check is a breeze

now and also, I find a money exchange so am able to

get some US dollars at last.

Anyway, the plane (another Q400) takes us across

snow-capped mountains and within about an hour

we have landed at Spokane. It occurs to me as we

got ready for this flight that I did not appear to have

any “airport transfer” to our hotel. It seemed to be

listed as “own arrangement” – and I did not have

one. Having collected our baggage we made our

way out the door, looked up and down (in a

bewildered fashion obviously) and a well-dressed

man in dark uniform and cap came up to us and

asked if we were going to “The Historic Davenport

Hotel.” I assured him we were and he escorted us

to his equally smart black van with a small number

of other people similarly bound. He had names for

them – but not us. He must have recognised us as

“paddle boaters” though!

We make the hotel in quick time and find it is a

splendid old fashioned hotel with impeccable

furnishings and service. Our room is large with a

giant bed, though so high off the floor, we almost

need steps to get up into it. We eventually work out

ways of assisting each other to get up into bed. Our

stay is only one night and it is the assembly point for

those joining the cruise. We go to the registration

area, check-in, get instructions and then amuse

ourselves for the evening.

In the morning, cruise passengers meet for breakfast

in a ball-room, make friends and then, at various

times board buses for a tour of the city of Spokane.

Recalling that last year at our pre-cruise assembly

point (Memphis) we took a “Graceland” tour to

check out if Elvis had actually left the building, well

we have a similar objective in this city. Visit the

home of Bing Crosby! Now we are talking real

singing!!! Bing’s family house is near the Gonzaga

University and preserved for all to see. What a

nostalgic visit this was. While Bing studied at this

university, he never graduated for Hollywood

seemed to get in the way! Of course the tour

continued on all around the city and was very

interesting – but the home of the old crooner was

the highlight. Returning to our hotel, our bags have

been collected and loaded (somewhere) and we

eventually make a way to a series of busses that take

us over a couple of hours, through the Washington

farmlands, into Idaho briefly and then finally to the

cities or towns of Clarkston and Lewiston, one on

each side of the Snake river (and named after the

original explorers, Lewis & Clark - we hear lots more

of them over the next week).

The American Empress, our paddle steamer is tied up

alongside the river and we make our way on board

to find our suitcases already stored in our room. The

cabin is small (but perfectly formed) with its own

bathroom and as well our own private outside deck.

We unpack and rejoice at not having to do that again

for a whole week! We explore the boat and discover

that it is rather similar to the one we rode last year

though a little smaller (200 odd passengers as

opposed to 400 odd). There are a couple of dining

areas and a smaller theatre and we soon settle down

to our first meal with “new friends.” We are not the

only Kiwis on board and over several days meet up

with three other couples from our country.

This particular boat is only about 15 years old and

was originally built for doing Alaska tours in the

summer and then in recent years has been bought

out by the American Queen Steam Boat Company

and used exclusively on the Snake and Columbia

Rivers. I discover to, that, unlike last year’s boat, it is

not in fact a paddle “steamer” but its power comes

from electricity! That is, diesel generators make

electricity to drive motors which turn the paddle

wheel and as well other independent motors that

give the boat driving and steering power so it can go

sideways. I figure, on this boat anyway, the paddle

wheel is actually not doing a great deal. It doesn’t

matter much for we are sailing down the river and

that’s all I require.

On the first night we just do a cruise around the

Clarkston Harbour while having dinner. Maybe they

just want to check if we get sea-sick (or river sick).

The next day we leave Clarkston and begin to make

our way down the last 125 miles of the Snake River

before we reach the Columbia.

Another aspect of these rivers is the dams that have

been built on them and I recall one of our friends

saying earlier that we would not be able to ride all

the way down because of this! I figured there must

be a solution and very quickly after our departure

discover there is. It is a series of locks (three at 100

feet in the first night) that go alongside the dams and

we just sail in, empty the water and drop to another

level. There is even a “fish access” ladder up one

side so that they can also get by. These are all

managed by the US Army Corp of Engineers. We pass

eight such dams in all.

There are cattle grazing areas and as well some

orchards along the river. Wild animals (black bear,

cougar & coyotes) are said to inhabit the banks but

we don’t see any. On the water there is a

proliferation of birds, one to stand out is the white

pelicans who constantly fly alongside us. There is

also a lot of grain grown in the early area of the

cruise – so much in fact that it does not fit into silos

and extremely large heaps (perhaps 15 – 20 metres

high) are seen out in the open. First time I have seen

that. I query what happens when it rains and am

told that they only have about 200mm per year in

that area and it has already fallen!

The first real port of call on our way down is Richland

which I thought was just a small town however it

turns out to be a collection of three cities and

became well known during WW II when aluminium

plants sprang up (due to power availability from the

dams) to build aircraft and also for the Manhattan

Project, i.e. the secret facility that was the nation’s

first nuclear reactor. The rest as they say, is history.

Buses accompany the boat and they do “Hop On –

Hop Off” tours of the area and these are

complimentary with the cruise. More extensive

tours can be purchased and occasionally we take

these – like the wine tour one! We are now on the

Columbia River and the blinding obvious occurs to

me, namely that it (the river) originates in British

Columbia, from whence we have just come! We are

going to sail down some 300 miles of it. We can see

the hillsides alongside are getting greener now and a

lot more crops are grown. They refer to the area as

the “Fruit Loop” (though it does not mean what you

just thought it did!)

The next port was The Dalles. We take the bus tour

& inspect an Art Deco Theatre. Pointed out to us in

this city are two very large buildings that belong to

Google who have invested a couple of billion dollars

here for some of their technology bases. We take in

another “extra” tour, this time to a vintage aircraft

and automobile museum. It is spectacular and I

have never seen anything like it. On each side of the

rivers we do see a lot of trains and the river guide

tells us there can be over 100 per day and each with

100 wagons. We see several of them, carrying both

grain, oil and no doubt other products. On the river

though we see barges but not in anything like the

numbers we witnessed on the Mississippi last year.

When we reach the city of Astoria at the mouth of

the Columbia though I can see seven large freighters

sitting “in the stream” and I am told they are

awaiting berths at various ports up river to collect

grain and logs – to go overseas.

Astoria is the mouth of the river and a bus tour there

takes us to the top of a hill which is home to the

Astoria Column. We had visited it before in 2007 but

the internal stair case was closed. This time it was

open and one of us was silly enough to climb the 164

steps to the top and, like the other kids, launch a

little balsa wood plane to fly to the bottom and land

at Eleanor’s feet That night we travelled back up the

river to the cities of Portland (Oregon) on one side of

the river and Vancouver (Washington) on the other.

We ended our cruise with a bus tour of Portland and

then to the airport for a journey of around 30 hours

back to NZ.

In doing that we leave Portland on the 23rd, reach

Auckland on the 25th and miss altogether the 24th of

July. Fortuitous perhaps for, if she were still with us,

this date would have been the 50th birthday for our

late daughter Lisa.

Home, in the middle of winter but it is fine and sunny

– and we love it. It is great to travel, but it is good to

be home again.

Spokane Hotel Highrise Bed!

1!

Bing’s House Me & Bing @ University Bing can sing!

American Empress

Fine Dinning

Breakfast on deck

Bonneville Dam

Fish ladder @ Bonneville

Big River – big bridges

Astoria Trolley

Astoria Gardens

Last lap: Our busses – Our bags

Astoria Column

Automobile & Aircraft Museum